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memory bones 2007

Artwork memory bones this artwork made of Pigment and pastel on canvas, created in 2007-01-01
Accession No.
2010.191
Date Created
2007
Gallery location
Not on public display
Department
Indigenous Australian Art
Dimensions A
211 x 127cm
Media Category
Painting
Secondary Media Category
natural pigments
Medium
Pigment and pastel on canvas
Place Created
Queensland
Credit Line
The James C. Sourris AM Collection.
Gift of James C. Sourris through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2010. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program

Judy Watson sensitively draws from histories of Indigenous Australians, including her own family and cultural connections. She often incorporates silhouetted figures, recalling those found in rock art in parts of Indigenous Australia; this device signals the persistence of Aboriginal presence, as well as a kind of spiritual power. In memory bones, white marks overlay splattered red, representing the fractured ribs and blood of Mulrunji Doomadgee, a Palm Island man who died in police custody in 2004 – and whose loss became representative of continued police brutality against Aboriginal peoples.
 

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© Judy Watson/Copyright Agency

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Stories featuring this object

A detail view of a work painted on bark
RISING VOICES

RISING VOICES: INTRODUCTION

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LABEL

Judy Watson's veiled imagery

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Exhibitions featuring this object

A view of Arthur Koo-ekka Pambegan Jr's Flying Fox Story Place 2002–03, installed at the entrance to 'My Country', GOMA, July 2013 / © Estate of the artist / Photograph: M Sherwood, QAGOMA

‘My Country’

Jun 2013 - Oct 2013

An installation view of a wood sculpture of a dog / Camp dog (Ku)

‘I, Object’

Aug 2019 - Aug 2021

A view of ‘mudunama kundana wandaraba jarribirri: Judy Watson’, featuring walama 2000 (Courtesy: The artist, Milani Gallery and UAP Brisbane) installed on the QAG Watermall, with moreton bay rivers, australian temperature chart, freshwater mussels, net, spectrogram 2022 at back left, QAG, 14 March 2024 / © Judy Watson / Photograph: C Callistemon

‘mudunama kundana wandaraba jarribirri: Judy Watson’

Mar 2024 - Aug 2024

'Rising Voices' at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, London, May 2025, guarded by Michael Parekōwhai's Kapa Haka (Whero) 2003, and with glimpses of headdresses by Ken Thaiday Snr / © The artists / Image courtesy and © The V&A, South Kensington

ON TOUR: Rising Voices

May 2026 - Jan 2027

Reproduction requests

Images of artworks on this website may be used for research, study and other related exceptions as defined by section 40 of the Copyright Act 1968 (as amended) without applying for specific permission. All other uses of the content of this site (where applicable).  Refer these requests to reproductions. For more information, see copyright and reproductions on the QAGOMA website.